“My Empire of Dirt” is the Dirty Artichokes debut album. These Italian guys released a 5 track demo back in 2010 (three tracks can be found on the sampler dated June 2010 ) and they are our current band of the month. So, it’s useless to say that this eight piece is an amazing Celtic punk band.

Twelve tracks in 37 minutes and 10 of them are self-penned songs. These are two important points. First of all, the album is not too long. Secondly, they have bet on their own compositions. And, to tell you the truth, Dirty Artichokes write catchy songs. The beginning of the album is flawless: “Brighi’s March”, an awesome instrumental, “Ordinary Tales of Bastards and Bitches”, the real gem of the album, and “22 in the Belly of a Shark”, another great Celtic punk number. This would be the first highlight.

The second highlight would be track no. 5, “Land of the Clover”, which is my second best song on the album. It runs slowly at the beginning with flute, fiddle and acoustic guitar, and then it goes faster at the end.

And the third highlight of the album would be a couple of kick-ass fast-paced punk songs: “Another Jug” (featuring a reggae part) and “50 fuck”.

The only weak point that I have found on this album is the small budget that has not allowed them to hire a producer. I feel that some arrangements on tracks 4, 8 and 10 are a little bit “flat” and the help of a producer could have improved them. It’s a personal opinion, but I feel that Budo’s raucous vocals should be backed with more aggressive arrangements.

Dirty Artichokes have shared the stage with The Real McKenzies, Cruachan, the Vad Vuc and recently they have played a couple of shows together with The Mahones and Firkin in Austria and Hungary. If you like young bands full of passion, give Dirty Artichokes a listen.

Track listing:

(This is the right order. There is a mistake on the back cover. It is printed taht track no. 6 is "Devil's Dance Floor", but in fact it's "Drunken Sailor")